III. THE ‘FRITH’ BETWEEN ETHELRED II. AND OLAF TRYGGVASON, A.D. 993.
Frith of A.D. 993.
The real Danish invasion of England, which ended in the accession of Cnut to the kingdom of all England, commenced with the arrival of Olaf (Tryggvason), afterwards King of Norway, in A.D. 991. The fatal battle of Malden had been fought and 10,000 pounds of silver paid for a temporary peace. At length the treaty was made between Ethelred and Olaf on the latter embracing Christianity.
Freeman’s wergeld 25 pounds of silver. Slave valued at one pound.
The article on homicide in this ‘frith-mal’ is the only one which need be quoted here:—
Gif Englisc man Deniscne ofslea, frigman frigne, gylde hine mid xxv pundum oþþon mon þone hand-dædan agyfe, ⁊ do se Denisca þone Engliscan eal swa gif [he] hine ofslea. Gif Englisc man Deniscne þræl ofslea gylde hine mid punde ⁊ se Denisca Engliscne eal swa gif he hine ofslea.
If an Englishman slay a Dane, a freeman a freeman, let him pay for him with xxv[232] pounds, or let the slayer be delivered up. And let the Dane do the same by an Englishman if he slay him. If an Englishman slay a Danish thrall let him pay for him with a pound; and so a Dane in like manner, by an Englishman if he slay him.
The freeman is the twelve-hyndeman.
The points to be noted here are these. It is for the crime of a freeman slaying a freeman that the wergeld of twenty-five pounds is to be paid. And this wergeld of twenty-five pounds of silver is the wergeld of 1200 Wessex scillings. So that the freeman of this clause is the twelve-hyndeman.[233]
For the purpose of this ‘frith’ between Ethelred and Olaf the twelve-hyndeman and not the twy-hyndeman is the typical freeman. And the Dane also is to be paid for by a twelve-hyndeman’s wergeld.
The twy-hyndeman escapes without notice. No class is mentioned between the twelve-hynde freeman and the thrall; and the thrall whether Danish or English is paid for with a pound of silver.
Finally, the compact is described in Anglo-Saxon pounds, not in Danish marks and ores.
It is an English statement of the ‘frith’ between the English king and ‘the army that Anlaf (Olaf) and Justin and Guthmund, Stegita’s son, were with.’ And accordingly at the end of clause 7 is recorded the humiliating admission that ‘twenty-two thousand pounds of gold and silver were given to “the army in England for the frith.”’
